At 5pm last Saturday, I was on the cusp of being hit with a dark red arrow.
Four of my five players had blanked and I was going into Sunday without highly-owned players such as Kevin de Bruyne (40%), Mohamed Salah (27%) or Sadio Mané (35%) which put me at risk of my overall rank plummeting further.
Thankfully my trust in Jamie Vardy’s (£9.6m) form paid off with his 24 points as captain, as well as an unexpected clean sheet for Kasper Schmeichel (£5.2m).
This was further boosted with Anthony Martial’s (£7.7m) double-digit haul on Sunday.
It was just a shame that my Manchester City coverage of Sergio Aguero (£12.0m) and Raheem Sterling (£12.0m) failed me. Then again the duo have a dire record as visiting players at Anfield so I shouldn’t have expected much.
Liverpool’s late loss of a clean sheet cost me four points with my ownership of Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m) but it probably was for the best as I ended up unpunished by anyone with a defensive double-up.
Previously, I had sold Salah and Mason Greenwood (£4.3m) for Vardy and Martial.
I felt that this made perfect sense as I was effectively obtaining two attacking players for the price of one.
I had numerous concerns last weekend with my squad and could have easily used a free transfer or taken a hit.
Andriy Yarmolenko (£6.0m) could have swiftly been switched out for Youri Tielemans (£6.6m) with my cash in the bank.
But ultimately I wanted the in-form, Mané. I should have bought him weeks ago. Aguero has demonstrated that he is a rotation risk too often this season, despite scoring nine Premier League goals thus far. However, only one since Gameweek 6 weakens his appeal significantly.
An easy move for me would be to sell Todd Cantwell (£4.7m) and the Argentina international for Mané and Aaron Connolly (£4.7m) without taking a hit.
But I would still be left with Yarmolenko.
Whether I make one, two or three transfers during the international break, I almost certainly need to crowbar in Mané. I simply have no choice but to do so.
Another option could be to sell my two attacking Manchester City assets for Salah and Mané if I wanted to put all of my eggs in one title-race basket.
However, after now trailing Liverpool by nine points, Pep Guardiola will be more motivated than ever before to convert their decline with a winning spree, even if they are facing Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in their next five Premier League games.
I managed to end Gameweek 12 with a third consecutive green arrow and my best overall rank since the last week of August.
I finally have some momentum on my side with the international break providing me with much needed time to plan ahead for the upcoming winter fixture rush.
The 62 points I picked in Gameweek 12 seems modest in comparison to a lot of seasoned FPL managers but I do feel content with the 193 points I’ve amassed over the last three rounds.
It wasn’t long ago that I was ranked as low as 2.7 million despite having a more than reasonable start – so I’m very happy with my recent progress.
I’ve also surprised myself by being more cautious with my transfers this season with only two hits taken to date – each resulting in a red arrow.
My aim now is to make incremental gains with safe transfers and hope that my armband picks can deliver on a more regular basis.
December will no doubt be filled with variables in FPL, as it always is, so I need to make the most of my newfound traction and hope that I can continue my run of green arrows.
GAMEWEEK 12 – FPL MATCH REPORTS
- Norwich City 0-2 Watford
- Chelsea 2-0 Crystal Palace
- Burnley 3-0 West Ham United
- Newcastle United 2-1 Bournemouth
- Southampton 1-2 Everton
- Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Everton
- Leicester City 2-0 Arsenal
- Manchester United 3-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
- Wolves 2-1 Aston Villa
- Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City
4 years, 6 months ago
Do we think Sterling being dropped for England is better for him in PL? Surely Pep will start him and he’ll be even more fired up?
Was considering dropping him to find getting Vardy.